Fading to Silence
by Kanika Meskhenet
Summary: It started out as any other summer vacation together, that is until their car swerved off into the ocean. When they awoke they were separated, worlds apart. Now they must regroup before they disappear completely. summary in profile
1. And So It Begins

Hey everyone, it's me again! This is my latest story and it essentially involves me and my closest friends going on our own adventures! Woo...lol

It's a major crossover fic, the anime/games involved are the following: Kingdom Hearts 2, Black Cat, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fatal Frame 2, Resident Evil 5, and Ouran High School Host Club.

I won't post who gets thrown into what world yet, you'll just have to find out when I get to everyone's chapter (though if you're one of the people in this story then you probably already know, so yeah xD)

Anyway, here's the first chapter, I hope you enjoy!

And don't forget to review!

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**Fade to Silence**

_And So It Begins_

"By the power invested in me and by the state of South Carolina, I now pronounce you high school graduates of the class of 2009!" The short plump man with a diminishing head of brown hair slowly being overtaken by an asault of gray hair announced proudly to the group of 294 students.

Tassles were moved to the opposite side of their graduation caps and cheers erupted from the large audience gathered in the stadium. The newly graduates joined in the cheers and tossed their caps up into the air, several people were even bold enough to fling their's like a frisbee, causing quite a few people to duck out of the way and giggle.

A short brunette with side swept bangs that covered over her left eye at the end of the 3rd row of chairs watched apprehensively as the flurry of black tassled caps rained down from the air, her hazel eyes darting back and forth anxiously to make sure that she wasn't in any position of being hit. Swatting a few of the falling objects away from her face she waited for her turn to file out of the arena to go meet up with her friends, relieved when she was finally outside and out of the stuffy overly packed stadium.

"Taryn!" She turned around, grinning as she was tackled into a tight embrace by one of her best friends.

"Oi Katie!"

She loosened her grip and backed up a couple of steps, a cheshire-like grin matching her brunette friend's was tugging at her lips.

Katie was of average height (or perhaps a little taller) with long blonde hair that stopped short just a few inches below her shoulders. Her beautiful light blue eyes were twinkling with mirth when she noticed Taryn glaring playfully at the height difference between them. It wasn't news that out of all of their friends, the hazel eyed brunette was decidedly the shortest, standing in at 5'2".

"So, everything's in order for our trip?" Katie asked excitedly,"I can't believe my parents are actually letting me go with you!"

"Hey! Gee thanks." Taryn exclaimed sarcastically.

The blonde rolled her eyes,"You know what I mean! With them being as protective as they are and all."

"Yeah I know, I'm glad you can come with us all! It wouldn't have been the same without you, Miss I-was-ranked-number-eight-out-of-the-whole-senior-class!" The short hazel eyed brunette laughed, making Katie once again roll her eyes at her friend.

Katie's parents finally found her and weaved their way through the crowd and over to the two girls, greeting Taryn and congratulating her on graduating before taking several pictures of the two friends together in their gowns and caps holding up their diplomas.

"I guess it's time to go," Katie started, giving her friend a quick hug,"I'll see you tomorrow morning at 7, right?"

"Yeah, and if you see Alex and Ashley remind them to be at my house at 7 tomorrow morning, and I'll text Mikael and Connor, kay?"

Katie nodded and turned to leave with her family through the mass throng of people congratulating one another and snapping photos of friends and families. Taryn glanced around her to see if she recognized anyone before sighing, easing herself out of the way of everyone and waiting off to the side for her family to find her so that she could get home and pack for the trip she and her friends would be taking the next morning.

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"Morning ladies." The youngest in their group of friends, Mikael, greeted as he stifled a yawn with the palm of his hand. He was a tall sophmore with light brown skin and the most amazing afro you'd ever have the honor of setting your eyes on. Everyone knew him around school, not by name, but by 'afro kid' and everyone always wanted to feel it's fluffiness. Mikael basked in the attention he received from the ladies.

Connor, his best friend, stood next to him helping the girls load their suit cases into the back of Taryn's van. He was a tall junior with broad shoulders and a strong muscles, no doubtedly from all the football he had played for school. His reddish-brown hair was cut very short while his light blue eyes held a mischievous glint to them.

"G'morning guys, look who I brought! Tamaki-sama!" A blonde haired, purple eyed plush toy was thrust into Mikael and Connor's faces and they couldn't help but to laugh at their petite friend behind the doll. Alex was another member of the group, the second oldest and shortest (in their group the older you were, the shorter you were aswell.) of the bunch with dark chocolate colored hair that just barely rested above her shoulders. Her eyes were a pretty shade of brown, currently staring at her Suoh Tamaki plush with complete and utter adoration. She had recently gotten into the Ouran High School Host Club series and had become quite taken with the blonde Host Prince of the show which lead to her buying a plushie of him at a convention and carrying it around everywhere she went.

"Hey, where'd Taryn disappear to?" Ashley, the final member of the group, asked after realizing that said brunette was nowhere to be seen. She was the youngest of the 4 seniors (well, graduates), which meant that she was also the tallest, with dark chestnut colored hair that came down to well past her shoulders with bangs swept across her forehead. And like Alex, her eyes were a pretty dark brown color.

"Wasn't she the one who made a big deal about leaving early?" Katie yawned,"And now she's making us wait?"

"Oh cool it, ya'll! I was just saying goodbye to my mom." Taryn shut the front door behind her and made her way over to her friends who were waiting for her by the car. "Are ya'll ready?"

"Shot gun!" Alex cried out, rushing for the front passengers seat and locking the door once she was up front so that no one could try and take her seat away. In the window the others could see her Tamaki plushie dancing around, making everyone laugh.

First Mikael and Connor crawled in, taking the seats in the very back of the van and leaning against eachother drowsily, afterall it was still early in the morning. Next was Katie and Ashley, taking the two isle seats and sliding the side doors closed once they were all situated. Lastly, Taryn climbed into the driver's seat, groping the bottom side of her seat until she found a lever and slid it forward, making her seat scoot itself up so that she could reach the pedals.

Several snickers were heard from the back at the fact that she needed her seat adjusted to reach the pedals and she grit her teeth, her eyes holding a more greenish hue from annoyance. "Don't make me turn this car around!"

"...you haven't even started the car yet, genius." Ashley bit her lip to keep from giggling.

Taryn's eyes shifted left to right before she cried out,"Oh shaddup!" and started the car, pulling out of her driveway with ease, thus starting their journey.

It only took 3 and a half hours for them to get to Charleston, which included gas, bathroom, and food breaks, and everyone was just itching to get out of the car and play on the beach.

"Not bad for my first big drive, huh?" The tiny brunette grinned, absentmindedly playing with the black and white polka-dotted bow in her hair.

"Good job, buddy." Mikael gave her a thumbs up as he hoisted himself over the seats infront of him to get out of the van and help the others unload the luggage and bring it up to their hotel rooms.

"Lets just set the suitcases inside and then go down to the beach, kay?" Alex suggested and the others agreed whole-heartedly.

Connor made a strange face, which looked to be a mix between confusion and constipation, "Damnit, where'd Taryn disappear to this time?"

Katie rolled her eyes and smiled,"Apparently Connor doesn't listen well, she just told us she was going to check us in and get our room keys."

"Good job, Connor." Alex and Ashley sarcastically said simultaneously.

"Thanks guys, I try my best." He played it off with a laugh.

Taryn returned shortly with a baggage cart and several cardkeys,"Here, these one's are for the guys, and these are ours." she handed two keys to the boys for their room, and then identical ones to her girl friends for their shared room.

Ashley, Alex, and Taryn exchanged smirks before taking off into a sprint, waving back at the guys who stood dumbfoundedly staring after the girls,"Don't forget to drop our stuff off by our room!"

Katie frowned,"Howcome I'm never in on their little schemes like this?"

Mikael patted her on the back sympathetically,"Because you're too good."

"C'mon let's hurry up so we can get down to the beach." Connor sighed before an idea hit him,"You know...when we get down there we should throw them into the water as punishment for taking off like that!"

Mikael and Katie blinked at him before a devious smirk pulled at the corners of the afro'd boy's lips and he nodded vigorously while the blonde merely shrugged and nodded.

"Yosh! The perfect payback!" The hazel eyed, tan skinned boy pumped his fist into the air excitedly.

"I'm in, though I'm not sure if I could pick any of them up..." Katie frowned.

Connor waved it off,"Don't worry about it, we'll both pick them up and toss 'em, you'll just be in on it."

The three loaded the baggage cart with everyone's luggage and deposited it into the correct room before heading down to the beach for their revenge on the 3 seniors already basking in the sun. The boys, and Katie, jogged their way down the sandy path to the beach, revelling in the cool, salty seabreeze that subtracted from the already rising temperature. The shore was level and smooth, dotted with seashells and washed up seaweed where the waves rolled in. The girls had already set up their towels and were laying out in their bathingsuits (which everyone had worn underneath their clothes), talking casually to eachother about something or other.

Mikael and Connor discarded their tshirts so that they were just in their swimtrunks while Katie shyly opted to keep her tanktop on over her bathingsuit.

Ashley tilted her head back and squinted her eyes against the bright rays of the sun,"Oh, hey guys!"

Katie thought quickly before pointing off towards the water's edge,"Hey what just washed up? Let's go check it out."

The other three sat up and looked in the direction she had indicated but didn't see anything. "This isn't some kind of trick to get us back for ditching you guys, is it?" Alex eyed her blonde friend skeptically.

"...no." Katie averted her eyes to the sky.

"Rightt." Alex laughed and layed back down on her towel.

Taryn tilted her head to the side and stood up,"Well, I believe you Katie, Miss Number-8-Out-Of-The-Whole-Senior-Class!"

"Are you ever going to stop calling me that?" The blue-eyed blonde sighed when her friend shook her head enthusiastically,"Whatever, c'mon let's go look."

The short brunette linked her arm with her friend and began to skip down the beach towards where Katie had claimed to see something wash ashore. Once they got there they began to peer into the water flowing back to shore, but there was nothing there, aside from a crab or two scuttling by.

"Are you sure it was here? I don't see anyth---" Taryn jumped as the sounds of Alex and Ashley's hysterical screams and shouts erupted from where they had been previously sitting. Katie latched onto her arm, intent on keeping her friend stationary, atleast until the boys were finished dumping Alex and Ashley into the chilling ocean water.

"No no no--ah!" Two big splashes shattered their screams for help and Taryn took that as her cue to twist herself out of Katie's grip and run, kicking up a shower of sand in the process.

She chanced a glance behind her to see that Mikael was hot on her tail and for no apparent reason she stopped running completely, almost being bowled over by the tall sophmore in the process, and erupted into a fit of giggles. "N-n-no! Don't...s-s-stay away f-f-from m-me!" Taryn held her hands out infront of her in a desperate attempt to fend him off, but he'd have none of it and simply swatted her arms away before picking her up bridal style and starting for the ocean.

"Damnit Mikael! Put me down!" She pounded on his chest.

He shrugged, smirking,"If you say so." and dropped her into the cool, salty waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

The water came roughly up to her waist when she stood, turning around to send her tall tan-skinned friend a heated glare. Mikael chuckled at her soggy appearance, thinking that she looked more like a drowned cat than anything else, especially with the way her hair was plastered to her face and neck.

"You're a jerk." She growled a few minutes later as she wrung out her hair after she and her friends had all made it back to their warm spot on the beach.

Ashley nodded, sending the boys a dirty look,"That was uncalled for, that water was cold!"

Connor laughed,"That'll teach you guys next time you have thoughts of skipping out on your share of the work. Though, technically I guess those suitcases were kind of heavy so you would've relied on us either way to get them to your room..."

"See? Then that whole dumping us into the ocean ordeal wasn't necessary at all." Alex narrowed her eyes at the football player who in turn sheepishly scratched at the back of his head.

Taryn sighed, waving her hand dismissively,"Nevermind, these are my last 2 weeks in South Carolina before I have to move to New York, I wanna make the best of it with you guys."

"Aww! Group hug guys!" Mikael and Connor effectively added a lisp to their voices as they gathered up the girls, wrapping their arms around them in a giant group hug.

"Urg. Can't...breathe.." Katie grunted, their strong arms were squeezing the air out of her.

The boy's exchanged sheepish grins before releasing the girls from their grip and getting up to play a game of frisbee to pass the time. The girls watched them go before laying back down and chatting amongst themselves, mainly about where they'd go out to eat later that night and what they'd do afterwards.

"I vote we go to Chile's! I've been dying to go back there ever since I had some of there godly nachos last time I was here." Taryn licked her lips, imagining the scrumptious nachos and their other-worldly taste. She opened her eyes a moment later to gauge the reactions from her friends, hoping that they'd agree to her suggestion.

"Sounds good to me." Alex shrugged.

"As long as the rumbly in my tumbly gets satisfied I don't care where we go." Ashley chimed in.

Katie laughed,"I don't care, Chile's has some good food."

Taryn thrust her fist into the air,"Then it's settled!"

Mikael and Connor waltzed over to them once they had noticed the girls chatting about something animatedly like they had been and curiously wondered what they were talking about. "What's settled?" Connor asked, his confusion seeping into his voice.

"Where we're going to eat tonight." Ashley supplied and the boys went back to their game.

"Whoa, look at the clouds..." The blonde haired girl trailed off and the other 3 glanced up curiously to see what she was talking about.

"Yikes..." Taryn grimaced,"can't say that I saw that coming..."

Above them dark clouds were moving in fast from every direction, completely covering the expanse of the once blue sky now turning dark gray. Lightning streaked over the ocean before a loud crack of thunder sounded, making several of the girls wince. Rain began to fall, slow at first but then gaining momentum as is got closer to the ground and before long the group was running with their towels for the safety of the hotel.

Despite the fact that the hotel was mere yards away from where they had been on the beach by the time they made it to the area underneath the building they were soaked. Shivering with chattering teeth the group made it towards the elevator at the far end of the area, Mikael pressed the up button and they stood there waiting for the elevator to come down to pick them up.

"W-wow, it just g-got so much c-colder." Mikael rubbed his arms to try and create some heat to warm himself.

The doors opened and they hurried inside, pressing the button with the number '3' painted on it and stood back as the elevator rose up to the designated floor where their rooms were located.

"I guess we won't be showering before we go out to eat." Alex mused.

Connor gave her a funny look,"Why not?"

Katie sighed exasperatedly,"Well, unless the lightning stops, it's too dangerous and you could get electrocuted if you take a shower in a storm like this."

"Oh! We could play Fatal Frame for a while! And maybe the sto--" Taryn started excitedly but was cut off by the tall junior.

"Psh. That game's lame, me and Mikael will set up the xbox 360 and play Resident Evil 5 instead, now _that _game's scary."

"I'd like to see _you_ play Fatal Frame 2 by yourself and see how brave you are afterwards." Taryn retorted, her short temper flaring.

Mikael frowned, he was more or less the mediator in most cases and this was no exception,"Hey guys, calm down, both games are equally scary. And Connor, leave her alone about Fatal Frame, I've seen her play it and it is pretty scary."

The short brunette smiled appreciatively at him,"Thank you Mikael." and then stuck her tongue out at the reddish-brown haired boy who had started the whole little argument in the first place.

"Do you think it'd be cool if we just dried off and got dressed?" Alex asked,"And then just go to Chile's...because i'm kinda hungry right now."

"I don't see why not, I'm starving too." Taryn shrugged as the others nodded in agreement, rubbing their own growling stomachs.

"Alright, lets meet back here in 20 minutes then, yes?" Mikael didn't wait for a reply as he and Connor sauntered off towards their shared room across the hall from the girl's room.

That was just barely enough time for the girls to dry themselves off, get dressed in warm, dry clothes, and put on the finishing touches that they needed before heading out. Infact, it took them an extra ten minutes to make themselves presentable, it wasn't until they heard a pounding at their door and the groans of the guys that they decided that they were ready to go.

"Took you long enough." Connor frowned,"Me and Mikael are starving here!"

"Yeah well...so are we!" Ashley shot back, shutting the boys up.

Katie glanced over her shoulder at Alex as they made their way to the parking area underneath the hotel, the same place they had run to for shelter when it had first started to rain. "Are you really bringing that into the restaurant?" she was of course referring to the Tamaki plush that Alex was snuggling closely to her chest.

Taryn laughed,"You remind me of Hunny-senpai and his Usa-chan! How cute!"

The boys rolled their eyes at the girls, not quite understanding what they were talking about but knew that it was a fangirl thing and just decided to leave it at that.

They reached the van and all piled in, fastening their seatbelts and chatting amongst themselves as Taryn put in her _Escape The Fate_ cd and backed out of her parking space. The ride was a little bumpy and a few times she had to swerve a little to miss hitting fallen tree branches and other debris that had found itself in the middle of the road from the storm. The windshield wipers were moving as quickly as they could on their highest level, but even so, the visibility through the windshield was low and Taryn was having trouble discerning to street from the sidewalk.

"Uh...maybe we should...just turn back and order take out or something..." Mikael suggested, a little worried now that the storm showed no signs of letting up.

"I wish you had said something earlier, we're already on the bridge..." Taryn frowned, in truth she hated that bridge, going over the long bridge that connected Charleston to the mainland always stirred a fear deep down inside of her.

"Guys chill out, she's doing fine." Alex rolled her eyes, turning around to glare at Mikael for mentioning it in the first place.

As Alex was turning back around to face forward in her seat a bright flash of light caught in her peripheral vision and she felt a strange, painful pressure pull down on her. She wasn't the only one feeling this as the bolt of lightning struck down on the Ford Windsor, causing the hazel eyed driver to become momentarily blinded and swerve to the right abruptly.

Everything became eerily silent and seemed to be moving in slow-motion as the car broke through the barrier cables at the far side of the bridge and plumetted towards the chilly water below. Their faces were beyond ghostly pale and each one of them made to scream...but no sound was came out, it was their worst fear. Dying young while on summer vacation with their friends.

Before they hit the water another blinding light engulfed them, their senses dulled and then there was nothing as they succumbed to the darkness swirling around them.


	2. Chapter 2

Bleh. Near the end I got very lazy, I'm sure you guys can see the change in writing xD!

Anywho, there's probably some mistakes, I did my best to correct as much as I could while I was writing, but you know how things like that are easy to overlook...lol

This is the last time you'll see a **disclaimer **since I don't feel like writing it every chapter.

I don't own; Fatal Frame 2: Curse of the Crimson Butterfly, FullMetal Alchemist, Black Cat, Kingdom Hearts 2, Detective Conan, or Ouran High School Host Club. Neither do I own my friends, Alex, Ashley, Katie, Connor, or Mikael...unless, you know...they wouldn't mind if I...nvm lol

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Everything was darkness. Taryn felt as if she were lying in a void of absolute nothingness; she couldn't see, couldn't hear, and couldn't feel anything, it was just one big black nothing. _A-am I dead? Is this some sort of limbo that I'm trapped in?_ She wondered if there was a way to wake up and escape or if it was some kind of punishment and she was meant to stay like that for eternity.

The last thing she could remember was that awful thunderstorm. She had been driving her and her friends the way to some restaurant and then...

The brunette felt as if her heart had stopped as she reminisced, or perhaps it already had if her death theory was correct, and it really would've made sense with all that had happened. She mused that no one could have survived such an accident. Images of her and her friends and family flashed through her mind, _It's all my fault, I'm never going to see any of them again and it's all my fault..._ if she had been aware of herself she knew that she would've been crying hysterically from the realization.

At that moment a faded, watered down voice called to her, it was hard to understand due to the fact that it was too far away and garbled up sounding, but it was progress. _Who's there?_ she took a chance and called out with her mind.

Come into the light.

Taryn wasn't so sure about this suggestion,_Aren't I supposed to be running _away _from the light? _after having seen so many movies she knew that the 'light' wasn't where she wanted to go, atleast not yet. She wanted to live, she wanted to see her friends and wanted to be with her family once again and in order to do that she needed to fight. However at the moment she wasn't exactly sure _how _to fight.

Slowly she felt herself regaining her senses, vaguely she could feel something soft and warm beneath her and around her she could hear voices, although they still sounded far-away and somewhat familar...but unfamilar at the same time.

"I..she...king.."

She wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, only picking up bits and pieces of the conversation going on around her. The short brunette was now aware of a bright light hitting her closed eyelids and as a reflex she tightly scrunched up her eyes to try and keep the unwanted light at bay, but the action didn't exactly work as well as she had hoped.

"Look, she's moving! I think she's waking up! Alright, I'm going to go help Leon, kay? Check ya later!" An energetic voice cried out in excitement.

Taryn could hear what sounded like the legs of a chair sliding across a hard floor before a set of footsteps hurriedly left the room. She took a chance and tried to open her eyes, at first her vision was blurry but gradually cleared and she was able to finally get a look at her surroundings. It appeared to be a small cottage of some sort, books littered the floor and were just...everywhere you looked it seemed. In the far corner, across from the door, was a large high-tech computer system which from further investigation seemed to be the only modern aspect to the cottage as everything else seemed a little out of date looking.

She yelped as a sharp pain shot through her head before numbing down to a dull pulse behind her eyes, blinking away the tears that had unknowingly welled up at the corners of her eyes the brunette noticed that she wasn't alone anymore. Standing before her was a wise elderly looking man with a long white beard wearing a royal blue robe with one of those clichéd star and moon wizard hats ontop of his snow white head.

"Are you alright m'dear?" He asked kindly.

Taryn stared at him stupidly before blurting out,"Are you Albus Dumbledore?"

He chuckled at her obviously confused expression,"No, no my child, I am Merlin and you seem to have taken quite the spill! What were you doing in the Bailey? If Leon hadn't of been there to catch you you would've fallen to your death! Those stone walls are pretty high, and not to mention all the Heartless scurrying about."

"Merlin...the Bailey...Heartless?" Clearly she didn't comprehend what he was saying to her,"Hold on...where did you say I was?"

"Well, technically you're at my house," Merlin said thoughfully before adding,"but it's located here in Hollow Bastion, if that's what you meant."

"H-Hollow Bastion?!" She bolted up and immediately regretted it as another shot of intense pain coursed through her, causing her to wince at the sudden rush.

He nodded, his warm blue eyes were alight with concern for the poor girl,"M'dear are you alright?"

"I-I don't know..." Taryn admitted shakily,"I-I'm not supposed to be here..."

Merlin cast her a knowing look before taking a seat next to her on the bed,"What were the last things you remember before you found yourself here?"

She bit her lip hesitantly,"I was driving with my friends in the back and...we were struck by lightning and-and..." she choked, swallowing the tight lump that had formed in her throat at the memory,"M-my friends, are they okay?!"

He gave her a sad smile,"I'm sorry, you were the only one that we found, uh...sorry, I don't believe I caught your name..?"

"Oh, sorry, I'm Taryn, sir." She pulled up enough energy to speak in the most polite voice she could to the old wizard.

The door flew open and in rushed a petite raven haired girl garbed in a strange outfit, Taryn instantly recognized her as the ninja Yuffie. Realization hit her in rushed waves, it all began to make sense to her now that she was seeing everything with her own two eyes. _Merlin, Yuffie, Heartless, Hollow Bastion....holy shit, I'm in Kingdom Hearts!_

"Merlin do you have any more potions? Leon's been attacked and we're fresh out--Oh hi, I'm glad you're awake, I'm Yuffie by the way! -- so if you do it'd be really helpful!" Yuffie said everything all at once, directing her little introduction towards the brunette on the bed before turning back to Merlin.

He smiled apologetically to the brunette before standing up and disappearing in a poof of smoke with Yuffie, presumably to heal Leon with his magic, thus giving Taryn time to stand up and really get a good look of the cottage. One book in particular caught her eye, it was ontop of a desk with a thick binding and a colorful cover. She pushed herself off the bed, steadying herself before wandering over to where the book laid.

"_Winnie the Pooh_, duh." She rolled her eyes,"I wonder if the pages have already been torn out..." flipping through the book she realized that it was still pretty early in the game if the book was still perfectly intact, it shouldn't be long before Sora and his friends arrived at Merlin's she suspected.

Merlin popped back into the cottage a moment later, startling the pint-sized brunette out of her wits and causing her to yelp in surprise. He chuckled as she clutched at her chest to slow down her rapid breathing and pounding heartbeat, a friendly and amused twinkle in his eyes.

"Terribly sorry about that, dear." She was too mesmerized with staring at his long white beard to pay attention to what he was saying, it took a very loud clearing of his throat to get her to snap out of it.

"I'm sorry, what'd you say?" Taryn bit her lip sheepishly.

"Miss Taryn, where did you say you were from?" Merlin asked kindly, sitting at the table in the center of the room where he poured two cups of tea, motioning for her to come and join him.

The short brunette took the seat opposite of the old wizard and took a small sip of the ice tea in her cup. "I didn't, but you'd never believe me even if I told you."

He chuckled, his eyes twinkling in amusement,"I'm sure that's not that case."

She took a deep breath to help calm her nerves,"Er...well where I'm from all of this," she gestured all around her,"isn't real, it's the product of Square-Enix and the Disney Corporation." at his confused expression she elaborated,"meaning that everyone and everything here are from video games and movies; it's completely fictitious."

Merlin stroked his beard thoughtfully, taking in everything that she had just said,"Interesting. So you're saying that where you and your friends are from we're all just a video game here and you play out our lives for entertainment?"

The hazel eyed girl winced at his words,"Well it...it sounds awful when you word it like that, but technically it's _Sora_'s life that's played out in this game..."

"Yes, yes that would make sense." He smiled warmly,"Back to the task at hand, you ended up here alone but you think that your friends might have ended up in another world, correct?"

She nodded, absently tucking a stray strand of golden-brown hair behind her ear,"Yeah...I don't know how i'd go about looking for them though, I just want to find them and go home..."

"Hmm, well if what you've said is true then I've got some research to do," He winked,"in the meantime I'll have Leon and Yuffie train you so that you can take care of yourself against the Heartless and while you're doing that I'll get in touch with Sora, I'm sure he'd be more than happy to help you out on your quest."

The 18 year old grinned brightly at the wise wizard, excited about the prospect of travelling with the wielder of the keyblade in search of her friends. It all seemed so unreal, she just hoped that wherever her friends were they were okay...

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Connor suppressed a shudder as he stiffly wandered through the village where he had woken up. It was eerily silent and strangely dark, even for it being night, though to be honest the fog clinging closely to the ground didn't exactly help the fact. He noted that the village seemed devoid of any life which alarmed him, putting the blue eyed boy on guard. He had woken up near the entrance of this deserted village, completely alone, yet he was hit with a vague sense of familarity.

"I've seen this place before..." He mumbled to himself.

An ominous moan resounded from the dilapidated house to his right, startling him and making him jump to the left to avoid whatever it was that had made the creepy noise. The crunching noise of gravel beneath sneakers caught Connor's attention as the beam from a flashlight turned the corner and shone at his back. He whirled around to see a petite asian girl staring at him in bewilderment. She was wearing neutral colors, a white scallop-hemmed skirt with dark leggings and a brown school girl type top. Her hair glimmered in the moonlight and he realized that she roughly had the same cut as his two friends Ashley and Taryn, dark brown hair in jagged layers with side-swept bangs.

"Ano...who're you?" She asked meekly, eyeing him warily while clutching at the old fashioned shutter camera in her left hand.

"Oh you've _got_ to be kidding me!"

She jumped back,"Excuse me?"

He frowned, shaking his head,"Sorry, uh, I'm Connor, and you?"

The japanese girl gave him a funny look before answering,"I'm Mio...what're you doing here in All God's Village? Don't you know how dangerous this place is?"

A look of apprehension flitted across his face and he cast a wary glance around the surrounding area. In his head he could hear Taryn's laughter at the irony of the situation, he could survive in this village, no big deal. _I'll show you that this place isn't scary! And i'll make it out in one piece._

"If it's so dangerous then what're you doing here?" If he remembered correctly then she was looking for her sister, but other than that he hadn't paid much attention to Taryn's ramblings about_ Fatal Frame II _so that was about all he could recall. He'd have to stick close to this girl if he truly had any chance of getting through the village.

"My sister disappeared and I'm trying to find her..." Her eyes watered at the mention of her twin, a look of pure determination lit up her dark brown eyes. Mio had vowed to her twin sister Mayu that she'd never leave her alone ever again. Especially not since that time when they were little...

_Mio raced through the forest, laughing quietly at her self-proclaimed game of tag. She knew that she had an unfair advantage over her sister since she had been on the track team at her high school, so naturally her speed was a lot more developed than Mayu's_

_"Mio...wait up...!" The desperate plea from her sister fell upon deaf ears until a startled scream pierced the silent forest around them. The older of the Amakura twins stopped abruptly, stumbling from the momentum before whirling around to search for her sister._

_"Mayu? Mayu! Where are you?" Her worry was seeping into her cracking voice as she started to backtrack to find her sister._

_Amakura Mio almost walked right by her but then the out-of-place figure lying in pain at the bottom of a steep incline caught her eye._

_"Mayu!"_

Connor cleared his throat to ease them out of the awkward silence that befell them,"Uh, mind if I join you? I'm kind of looking for my friends..."

She was hesitant in her decision before giving a light nod,"That_'s _okay, just...if we get attacked run, okay? I'll take care of it..."

He faltered,"Attacked? Er...by what exactly?" he already knew.

"This village is cursed. The souls of those who once lived here,well, they never moved on. From the surveyor journals of Makimura Masumi I learned that this village is cursed to forever relive the night of the massacre. While I was looking for Mayu I was attacked by several particularly violent spirits."

The junior swallowed the lump that had unknowingly formed in the back of his throat. What the hell was he supposed to do against ghosts? And how the hell was a little asian girl with a _camera_ supposed to fight off the spectres?

"Wow...uh...massacre?"

She nodded,"That's all I know though..." They fell into another awkward silence which was shortly broken by the sound of someone moaning in agonizing pain.

"Er...what was that?"

Mio visibly shuddered,"I-I don't know...but we should get inside." she nodded towards the house they had been standing outside of. Connor frowned at the flickering lamp outside of the Osaka House, the village was eerie he'd admit, but no way was he scared. He lived with his three younger brothers, there's nothing scarier than that, he could take on some wussy little ghost any day!

Mio stepped forward and pulled open the door, wincing as it creaked the whole way until it rested against the side of the old wooden building. They walked in together, Connor walking bravely infront of her as if to prove his manliness to the petite japanese girl. As they made it into the main room the doors closed behind them, rattling the old walls. The inside looked even worse than the outside, cobwebs hung in thick clusters from the ceiling and rice paper dividers lay discarded on the floor with the delicate portions yellowed and ripped in places.

"How...charming..." Mio remarked sarcastically, bringing the Camera Obscura closer to her chest.

Connor turned to stare at mio for a moment,"Wait...so this is your first time coming into this house?"

She offered him a weak smile and shook her head,"No, actually I was just in here but then I heard something outside and thought it might be Mayu. It turned out to be you, but all the same it's a good thing I found you or else you might've been killed since I'm the only one who can seal away the spirits." Mio tapped the shutter camera in her hand lightly with her index finger,"This is the Camera Obscura, it's a strange invention that allows me to take pictures of things you couldn't normally see and the spirits that I capture with it are sealed away. It's a pretty nifty invention."

Connor inwardly groaned at the thought of having to rely on some sort of old camera to protect him from attacking ghosts or whatever, but knew that there was nothing he could do now to change the situation, he'd just have to deal with it until he could find a way to get back to the beach with his friends. "Uh, so where should we go next?"

Mio's eyes darted around the wide open space warily before motioning for him to follow her up the two creaky stairs that put them on the landing. Connor followed her, wincing at the sound of the step moaning under his weight and silently hoping that nothing...paranormal...had heard the noise. The young japanese girl held the flashlight up to a door that had been to the direct left of where they had entered and she hesitated.

"What? Just open it, it's just a door." Connor laughed, gently pushing her aside and pulling open the sliding door, walking inside with an air of confidence surrounding him.

Te first thing he noticed when he walked into the room was the large curtain hanging from the ceiling, creating a small wall between the door and the open-space of the room. Connor waltzed passed the thick red curtain and tilted his head, the room was fairly dark with the only lighting coming from a small red glowing lantern up against the wall at the far left. He gave the room a once-over, a cocky smirk pulling at the corners of his lips,"See Mio, nothing to worry about this room is completely emp--"

As soon as Mio found her way to the middle of the room to stand beside him a strange noise erupted from the closet to the front of them. Narrowing her dark eyes in suspicion, clutching the Camera Obscura closer to her face with trembling hands Mio watched as the lid of a long rectangular box slowly lifted upwards and slid off, falling to the ground with a startling clatter. Connor backed up slowly, a look of pure horror etched its way onto his face as a hazy see-through figure emerged from the box and stood up, slowly creeping towards the two with sinister intent.

The camera immediately flew towards her eyes and her fingers rested instinctively on the shutter button, backing up a pace or two to let the ghost get closer so that she could get a shutter chance. The blurry hunched over woman slowly sauntered towards the duo, Connor began to shake with terror, sure the game wasn't scary...but this wasn't a game anymore, it was real.

"What the hell are you waiting for?! Take the damn picture!" He grunted from his spot up against the wall.

His cries distracted Mio momentarily, causing her to lose her shutter chance and curse quietly under her breath as the ghost reached out to grab her but she side-stepped in the nick of time to narrowly avoid the attack. Unfortunately this left Connor wide open and with nowhere to back up towards he was stuck where he was as the woman latched onto him, draining him of energy. He felt cold all of a sudden, like the very life force within him was being sucked out and absorbed by this violent spectre. The football player groaned, struggling out of her grasp and limping over towards Mio to avoid being attacked again.

The ghost lurched forwards, and began to stand straight up, revealing her face through the part in her long dark hair as she started for Mio and Connor once again. At that moment the young highschool girl snapped a photo of the ghost, sending the figure reeling back in agony as the direct damage of the _zero shot _zapped away half of her energy.

The tall blue eyed boy watched in amazement at the ghost came back to attack once again,"Shouldn't she be dead? I mean,well, she's already _dead _dead but shouldn't she have disappeared or something by now?"

Mio shook her head,"Not necessarily, if a ghost has a strong energy signature and enough malice then they become rather strong and it takes longer to get rid of them than a regular spirit."

He groaned in annoyance letting out a strangled yelp as Mio jumped to the side to miss another attack and the ghost glided towards him.

"Hey, box lady!" Mio spat, trying to distract the spirit from attacking the defenseless boy; it worked. The woman who, in Connor's opinion, resembled Samara from _The Ring _turned around abruptly, completely forgetting about the boy and started once again for the younger girl.

Mio didn't hesitate at the shutter chance that presented itself in that split moment, her finger quickly pressed down on the shutter button and a small flash emitted from the camera. Mio watched in morbid fascination as the ghost stumbled backwards and fell to the floor, writhing in what appeared to be agonizing pain and letting out an ear piercing scream before fading away.

"Thank God that's over!" Connor sighed in relief, catching his breath and placing a hand over his ribcage as his heart pounded violently against it.

Mio cast a glance over her shoulder at him and smiled weakly,"For now atleast..."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Ashley groaned, rubbing her sore bottom before pushing herself up into a sitting position, staring at her surroundings with a dumbfounded expression. She blinked a few times, confusion seeping into her expression at the landscape surrounding her, nothing looked familar, a further inspection of the area gave her a strong sense of déjà vu**.**

Standing up she moved her hand up to her forehead as a sort of visor against the harsh rays of the sun, trying to see if there was any sort of civilization or really...anything nearby. Groaning from the heat, intensified by the desert surrounding her, Ashley bit her lip trying to figure out a rational, logical explanation for her to have woken up in such a place.

"Is this some sick twisted form of hell? If so, I'm not impressed." She mused and was startled into nearly having a heart attack when someone from behind her chuckled.

"That's a new way of looking at it."

Whirling around to face the owner of the voice she gasped loudly and stumbled back a few feet from disbelief, while the boy and suit of armor beside him gave her a funny look. The boy was a few years younger than her, she knew immediately, with long golden-blonde hair tied back into a braid with his long bangs hanging on either side of his face. His bright golden eyes watched her carefully. Despite the intense desert heat he still persisted on wearing his trademark red cloak with the black insignia of Nicolas Flamel emblazoned on the back for all to see.

"Uh, sorry to startle you..." A surprisingly young voice echoed from within the suit of armor,"but are you alright miss...?"

The short blonde nodded,"Yeah, we just found you lying here in the middle of the desert not too long ago, we were worried that you had collapsed from heat exhaustion or something."

Ashley shook her head,"No, I..." she paused, what exactly could she say in a situation like this? She couldn't just come out and say _Yeah I totally fell through a rift in the dimension and ended up here in your world, which where i'm from is just a fictional place filled with fictional people, including you! Have any ideas on getting me back home?_ That'd sound absolutely ludicrous and the Elric brothers would surely dub her as a crazed up frootloop for spouting such nonsense. "Uh...was on my way to East City but got lost...?"

The blonde eyed her warily,"East City? We're nowhere near East City..."

Ashley covered up her mistake by laughing sheepishly,"I have a really awful sense of direction, I could get lost in my bedroom."

"Ah."

"Why don't you come with me and brother? We're headed for East City now that we're finished with our mission in Lior." The suit of armor offered to which the short blonde made a strange hissing noise and glared.

Ashley finally noticed the difference in height and bit her lip to stifle the giggles that were bound to erupt, she stood atleast 6 or 7 inches taller than him which was bound to upset him if mentioned. She was suddenly reminded of her friends and all those years spent poking fun at _certain _people's height, or lack there of.

"Ed doesn't exactly looked pleased by that suggestion, Al." She mused and immediately regretted it from the suspicious look she received from the older, but shorter, brother.

"We never told you our names." Edward's eyes hardened.

"Oh come on, you're the famous FullMetal Alchemist, hero of the people! How could I _not_ know who you are?" The chocolate eyed girl said quickly.

Alphonse nodded,"That's true, you have been getting a lot of publicity from these missions, brother."

"Well, you know our names but you still haven't told us yours." The blonde sighed finally.

"Ashley," She grinned,"So, uh, can I come with you guys to East City?"

Edward pinched the bridge of his nose, sparing a glance in his younger brother's direction and groaning loudly,"I...guess, fine. But now we're late so we're gonna have to run to catch the train..."

Alphonse looked startled, or as startled as a suit of armor can appear,"What?! Brother why didn't you say something earlier? If we miss that train then we're gonna be stuck here for who knows how long!"

"Then stop yer yappin' and start sprinting!" Edward shot back, glancing over at Ashley with a smirk,"You better keep up because we won't have you slowing us down and stranding us here in this godforsaken desert."

Ashley was taken aback by his rudeness and was about to retort with a scathing comment in return when she noticed that the blonde had already taken off with his brother trailing behind him. "Ugh, I hate running..." she groaned, kicking up sand when she tore off after the two.

Siding up next to the younger brother who spoke in an apologetic tone,"I'm sorry about brother, his people skills aren't the best..."

"That's the understatement of the century." Ashley rolled her eyes sarcastically and was surprised when she heard a small, hollow giggle coming from the suit of armor, causing her lips to twitch upwards at the corners.

The tall brunette couldn't exactly remember there ever being a train station in Lior from the anime but she chalked it up to the fact that in the show you were limited to what you were able to see of this world and now that she was actually here it was much bigger than the show had shown her. They arrived at the platform that docked the train just as the large metal contraption began to move and they had to run and jump onto the little landing between cars in order to secure a spot on the train for them. Ashley quickly hurried inside, panting heavily from the run there, her heartbeat still pounding relentlessly against her chest from the exertion.

"You alright there, Ashley?" Edward cast a glance over his shoulder at her as he walked by her, intent on finding them a compartment to sit in.

She tried to mask her heavy breathing by acting nonchalant,"I'm fine, thanks for the concern _shorty._"

He wheeled around to face her, his eye twitching,"_What_ did you say?"

Ashley ran a hand through her hair and let out a loud hearty laugh at his angry expression,"You hear me, or are you deaf?"

"Arg! WHO'RE YOU CALLIN' A HALF PINT BEAN SPROUT MIDGET?!"

Okay, she had to admit that hearing an Ed rant in person was even more humorous than watching him freak out in the show. Ashley felt herself getting a sick, twisted sort of pleasure from lighting his short fuse, _ha, short _and had half the mind to do it again, but she thought better of it. If she got on Edward's bad side then she wouldn't beable to use him to get into East Headquarters, where Colonel Mustang and his crew no doubtedly were judging by how early in the series she seemed to be.

The clunking suit of armor ducked his tin head in embarassment at the stares from the passengers that they were receiving and hissed,"Ed, she didn't say any of that, please calm down, people are staring!"

The blonde's narrowed eyes shot to his brother and softened considerably before sighing, running a hand through his hair to try and alleviate his anger. "Keh, whatever."

The two trailed behind Edward silently, or in Ashley's case snickering, and took seats in the empty train compartment that the Fullmetal Alchemist had managed to find near the back of the train. After a brief message from the conductor the train was on its way towards East City, making the tall brunette come to another realization...what was her excuse for going there in the first place? What would she tell Colonel Mustang?

Immediately the high-school graduate put her mind to thinking of an excuse that would be believable enough to get her into the military so that she could go about finding her friends. Absently staring out the window, watching as the scenery zoomed by in blurry motion, a smirk twitched at the corners of her lips. _I've got it._

"Ah so Ashley, what're you going to East City for? You live there?" Al asked quietly, his curiousity getting the better of him while the silence of the ride began to torment him.

She bit her lip and tried to muster up the saddest expression that she could manage, effectively getting her eyes to well with tears as she looked up to the suit of armor,"My father just d-died from a terminal respiratory disease. He used to always tell me how I should put my knowledge of technology to use so I wanted to join the military..." she sniffed,"I've got n-nowhere else to g-go."

Edward glanced up boredly from where he was leaning against the cool glass surface of the window and sent her a somewhat sympathetic look. "Don't worry about it, you'll do fine if it's what you're set on doing."

Ashley regarded him momentarily before nodding slowly,"Y-yeah, I just don't know what i'd do if I don't make it though..."

Alphonse tilted his head contemplatively,"The position you're wanting doesn't require a long, tough exam like that of the alchemy exam. They pretty much put you in a practical situation where you'll demonstrate your ability, so it should be too difficult if you've got the skills."

She bit her lip, feigning nervousness,"I-I hope you're right..." in truth she was rather confident in her technological skills, she had been in ROTC for a few years in high school and had actually been the one that everyone came to when they needed something fixed or needed help in getting something to work. She'd get that position for sure.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Hey, you alright kid?"

Katie stirred into conciousness, groggily opening her light blue eyes and giving the room she was in a calculating glance, taking in every minute detail with great confusion. Where was she? Did her friends drug her tomato juice and dump her off in some strange motel? As sad as that sounded, her friends were definitely capable of pulling something like that off.

Her eyes landed on a petite woman standing over the couch she was laying on, she looked to be perhaps in her 20s with short lavender colored hair and suspicious turquoise eyes. Around the woman's neck was a large heart-shaped pendant that rested just above her exposed cleavage. All in all this woman was nothing like anyone Katie had ever seen before.

"Oh good you're awake, how're you feeling?" She spoke softly, but her voice held a natural edge to it.

"I'm fine, thanks." Katie answered politely, sitting up and pulling her legs into a criss-crossed position,"Where am I and how'd I get here?"

The lavender haired woman's index finger found her chin and began to tap it as she thought back to the night before,"Hm, let's see. I had just left the bar after meeting with an, er, friend of mine and I was wandering around the city when I stumbled into an alley and found you just lying there on the gross ground." her face then lit up with a dazzling smile,"So I dragged you back to the motel I had rented for the night and here you are."

"Oh, well um, thanks." The blonde frowned, deep in thought,"Oh, sorry, I'm Katie by the way."

The older woman seemed torn between telling the girl her real name or using another one of her aliases, she gave Katie the once over and decided that the girl didn't really look like she posed much of a threat. But then again, she mused, she herself didn't seem like much of a threat and she was the famous thief, Rinslet Walker. "I'm Rins and now that you're awake I won't feel bad about leaving you alone, I assume you know the way back to your home?"

Alarmed by the thought of being alone Katie shook her head rapidly as the realization hit her that she was in unfamilar territory,"I'm sorry...I really have no idea where I am or how I even got here..."

Rins ran a hand haphazardously through her hair and sighed,"Okay, I suppose I can take you with me for now and who knows, maybe you'll remember what happened and recognize the area enough to find your way back home."

A low rumbling noise startled both woman until they realized with a start that it was their stomachs, letting out embarassed giggles Rins motioned for Katie to follow her to where they could get some lunch. The streets weren't paved, Katie noticed as soon as they left the motel, infact they were dirt roads and the buildings on either side of it had a western feel to them. She wouldn't have been surprised if a gun totting cowboy were to walk by her at that very moment.

Rins pushed open the door to a small cafe, holding it open so that Katie could enter before following behind the blonde, her mouth already watering from the delicious aroma coming from the kitchens. Her eyes wandered over the tables filled with hungry guests before landing on a familar trio stationed by the window with a large pile of fried bread-crusts infront of them.

"Still on a tight budget I see." Rins smirked at the three while Katie stood behind her shyly, eyeing the strangers warily.

Among the small group was a man who looked to be in his early 30s, perhaps? With shaggy green hair covered by a white hat and wearing a matching white business suit and strangest of all he was wearing an eyepatch over his right eye and carrying a suspicious looking briefcase. Next was a young man that looked about her age with spiky brown hair that stuck out in all directions and cat-like golden eyes but what caught her eye the most was the gun holster on his thigh. _He must be pretty confident of himself if he displays his gun openly like that_. And lastly a small girl who looked to be no older than 12 with long golden-blonde hair and violet eyes.

The boy was too busy stuffing his face to notice the arrival of Katie and Rins, once he finished the large pile of bread crusts infront of him he spread himself out on the booth seat and closed his eyes as if to take a nap. Rins rolled her eyes at the younger boy before turning her intense gaze onto the green haired, eye-patched man,"Sven, can I talk to you real quick?"

He nodded and stood up, wincing as he strained the healing bullet wound in his chest and walked over to sit with the young thief. Katie remained where she was, awkwardly shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

"Hi." The young blonde girl said quietly, making Katie feel slightly uncomfortable under her gaze for some reason.

"Hi, I'm Katie."

"Eve." She said, pushing herself away from the table and standing up,"I'm going to buy some salve for Sven's wound, would you care to join me?"

Katie glanced back over her shoulder to see Rinslet and Sven speaking in hushed voices off at the other side of the cafe, far away from the prying eyes and ears of everyone else. She wasn't sure if it was the best of ideas to leave without telling Rins, but then again, how long would it really take to zip to the Pharmacy and back? Shrugging, she decided to accompany the young girl if only to make sure that she dind't get abducted or something while on her own.

The walk was awkward to say the least, neither of the two spoke much on their way to the town's pharmacy and it made Katie almost regret agreeing to go with Eve, almost. The pharmacy was a small family-owned type building with shelves upon shelves of different remedies to various wounds and illnesses.

"Hello, how may I help you?"

Eve was distracted by a statue out front of the small building that, in Katie's opinion, resembled a Meowth from Pokemon wearing a red frog suit. The young blonde girl stared fixedly at the artifact, never taking her eyes off of it as she answered the man in that same quiet voice she had spoken to Katie with.

"I need some medicine for a bullet wound."

The man faltered, laughing nervously before grabbing a small vial and handing it to her in exchange for the right amount of gold. "Ah, I uh...I hope your friend feels better..." His voice wavered and Katie thought she saw a light trace of fear in the man's eyes.

On the way back the sky began to grow dark with the coming of night, a nervous feeling began to fill the blue eyed girl and she quickened her pace to match Eve's stride, wanting nothing more than to get back to the cafe and see Rins. They passed by a group of men huddled together, catching bits and pieces of their conversation as they marched by.

"The legendary Black Cat is here? Where?"

"I brought him to the local strip bar, I-I promise it's really him!" A nervous looking man stuttered, pointing in the direction of said bar.

The three vicious looking men smirked,"Once we get our hands on him we'll take him out personally."

Katie swallowed the lump that had suddenly formed in her throat and went to grab Eve's hand, urging her to hurry up so that they could get away from the dangerous men. She failed to notice the narrowed eyes of the younger girl beside her as she seemed to think something over before matching pace with Katie, if only to humor her.

Eve knew that she had to locate the imposter who was impersonating Train, the _real_ Black Cat, before those men got to the idiot and killed him.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Alex walked along the length of a tall luxurious building, keeping to the lush green grass as she tried to locate the front of the structure so that she could try and get an idea as to where she was. Her dark brown eyes roamed the area surrounding her, clutching tightly to her Tamaki plushie the petite brunette stumbled out into a big open courtyard and she immediately recognized where she was.

"No fucking way." She whispered, staring awestruck at the gigantic private academy before her,"This is amazing...it looks just like---that's not logical, it was probably just modeled after this place..."

Nevertheless Alex quietly wandered inside the building, if only to find out where she was and how to get back to Charleston, she reasoned with herself. But deep down she felt a growing excitement with each step she took.

The academy was lavishly decorated on the inside with highly expensive chandeliers and priceless paintings from world-reknowned artists. Alex took a moment to admire one painting in particular, it depicted a snowy mountainside covered in fog making it hard to make out certain details,"What a weird painting..."

"It's beauty pales in comparison to yours, princess."

Her heart could have stopped right then and there, that smooth melodic voice was one that she knew all too well, _What's Vic doing here though?_ she slowly turned around and for the second time that day she was awestruck, there standing before her was the most handsome boy she had ever laid eyes on. He was much taller than she was with neatly styled blonde hair that subtly swept to the side and the most dazzling violet eyes she had ever seen. Wait.

"T-Tamaki?!"

He seemed alarmed by her sudden cry, slowly nodding,"Well it appears that you know who I am but I still don't have the pleasure of knowing your name, princess."

"A-Alex..." She stared wide-eyed at him, a sudden bout of nervousness flooded her senses and she lost her ability to form coherent thoughts while in his presence.

He glided forward, taking her hand in his and bowing lightly to place a small kiss on it, completely unaware of what that small gesture had done to her. When he straightened himself out he noticed to dark tint of red splayed across her cheeks and he tilted his head to the side cutely in confusion, further flustering the poor girl.

"Are you alright, Alex?" He frowned, placing the backside of his hand against her forehead as if to feel for a fever, his obliviousness made her smile.

"I-I'm fine, thanks Tamaki." She stuttered.

His eyes then landed on the plush that she was still clutching to her chest,"What's that?" he peered down at it to get a closer look but Alex quickly hid it behind her back, laughing nervously from embarassment.

"Ah, it's nothing really--just stupid--um..." She could feel the heat flooding back to her face, she hated that she got like that infront of guys that she really liked. Alex remembered that she felt the same nervous fluttering in her stomach when she had met Travis Willingham at Anime Weekend Atlanta.

He regained himself and smiled charmingly,"Well princess, I'm off to the Host Club, I'd be honored if you'd grace us with your presence."

Finding that her voice was lost amongst the butterflies bouncing around inside of her all she could do was swallow the pooling of saliva in her mouth and nod numbly. But just that simple gesture had the blonde Host Prince grinning like the cheshire cat, ecstatic that she had agreed to accompany him to the 3rd Music Room. He held out his arm like the gentleman that he was, which she hesitantly accepted as another light dusting of pink spread across her cheeks as he led her down the hallway.

"I don't recall ever seeing you here, are you new?" He tilted his head to the side, his blonde bangs falling into his eyes only to be brushed away.

The petite brunette nodded,"Um, to tell you the truth I don't know what I'm doing here."

"What do you mean, princess?"

Her index finger tapped absently at her chin and her eyes took on a glazed thoughtful look,"Well, I was with my friends and we got....into an...accident..." she trailed off, the distant look in her eyes made Tamaki suppress a shudder.

She angled her face so that she was staring up at him,"And then I woke up here...I don't really know where to go."

Overcome by a powerful urge to protect, Tamaki felt the corners of his eyes prick and his bottom lip quiver. Glancing up Alex noticed this, letting a small frown tug at the corners of her lips. _Why does he suddenly look so...sad? Was it because of me? Did I do that?_ Guilt is what Alex began to feel from her revelation and when Tamaki stopped walking and turned so that he was infront of her she looked everywhere _but_ him.

He gently grabbed one of her shoulders before taking his index finger and lifting her chin so that she was staring straight into his eyes. A strange, almost giddy, sensation flowed through him as he noticed the red blush burning her cheeks,"As a gentleman I will do everything in my power to make you happy, including giving you a place to stayand helping you find your friends. Don't worry, princess, Tamaki Suoh, aswell as the rest of the Host Club, is at your service."

Alex could have melted right there on the spot, she even felt her knees become weak and start to buckle underneath her weight but she quickly pulled herself together and allowed a wide, thankful smile to take place on her face. "Thank you so much Tamaki, you have no idea how much it means to me to hear you say that..."

He cast her a charming grin,"Anything for you, sweetheart."

Her dark brown eyes swept over the stairwell infront of them before her gaze made its way back to his violet stare, her grip on the Tamaki plush unconciously tightened. The blonde held out his hand to her once again and led her up the stairs and a little ways down the hallway on the third floor he stopped her, now standing infront of the famous doubledoors with the small sign hanging from the ceiling reading _3rd Music Room._

_Wow. I'm actually here._ Alex thought, excitement eating its way at her stomach_,Ash is gonna be so jealous that I got to be here! Maybe I should discreetly take something of Kyouya's to bring back to her... _

Alex had faith that she'd see her friends again, perhaps it was this adventure with the Host Club that would lead her to them, or maybe they were all experiencing their own adventures. In truth, the thought made loads of sense to her, why would she be the only lucky one to meet her bishie? She mused that once they were all reunited with eachother that they'd each have shitloads of stories to tell.

Tamaki pushed open the doors and she was stunned by a light wind billowing from within, carrying with it rose petals. _Wow, that _actually _happens when the doors are opened!_ She could have laughed if she hadn't felt so amazed to be there.

He spread his arms out extravagantly, "Welcome to the Host Club, princess."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

A small moan escape through Mikael's parted lips as he began to stir himself back into conciousness, he could feel something cool and moist on his forehead, helping to take the edge out of the feverish heat that he felt running through his body.

"Ran-neechan! He's waking up."

It was the voice of a child who from, judging by how loud it sounded and the vibrations in the air, was sitting rather close to where he himself was laying. A brief padding of footsteps sounded and he felt soft fingers peeling the cool cloth from his forehead, replacing it with another, much cooler, wash-cloth.

Taking his chances, Mikael opened his eyes slowly, testing the light to make sure that the brightness wasn't too overwhelming for his eyes to handle. He blinked in surprise, the room was rather dark as the blinds were drawn shut presumably to make it easier for him to rest without having to be bothered.

"Hey...how're you feeling?" A young woman with long chestnut colored hair leaned over him, concern lacing her words as she spoke softly to him. Mikael felt his throat go dry at the sight of her cleavage falling in his face and he fought the urge to reach out and grope her, that would've been _inappropriate_.

He swallowed the lump in his throat,"I-I'm fine, thanks."

She smiled brightly, straightening herself back out, much to his dismay,"I'm Ran and this is Conan, he's actually the one that found you."

Mikael ran a hand through his beautifully sculpted afro,"I'm Mikael and...what do you mean he found me? Where was I?" his tone dripping with confusion.

The younger boy stepped forward, looking to be no older than 8 with dark messy brown hair and deep sapphire blue eyes covered by a pair of thick glasses. "I found you laying in the park underneath the big Sakura tree so I called Ran-neechan and we brought you back here."

"Do you remember passing out in the park, Mikael?" Ran asked and he shook his head.

Mikael bit his lip, mulling over what he should do in a situation like this. He didn't want to be tossed out of the Detective Agency and expected to fend for himself and find his way back to..._holy shit! Then I'm in Japan...meaning i'm all the way on the other side of the world! How the _hell_ am I supposed to get back to South Carolina?!_ He'd have to play the amnesia card if he wanted to gain enough time to figure out what to do to get back home.

"I...I can't remember...." He frowned, furrowing his brows in concentrated thought.

Ran and Conan exchanged worried glances,"You don't remember anything? At all?"

The darker skinned boy shook his head sadly, watching as Ran gave him a sad, pity-filled smile before excusing herself from the room for a few moments.

Conan sat on the edge of the bed,"What's the last thing you remember?"

"I was...at the beach with my friends..."

The pint-sized detective gave him an incredulous look,"The beach? But that's nowhere near where I found you..."

They then lapsed into an awkward silence as Conan tried to piece together what could have possibly happened to Mikael and decide whether or not he could be trusted. Ran seemed to have no problem with believing his amnesia claim, but Conan was a little warily on accepting it to be the truth.

Ran returned shortly with a bowl of soup and a glass of water,"Here, eat up, Mikael." she smiled, handing him the food which he ate with great appreciation,"Since you can't remember anything I can't very well send you out on your own so I convinced dad to let you stay with us until you're better!"

Conan's eyes narrowed on Mikael momentarily before sighing and putting his child-like mask back into place,"That's great Ran-neechan!"

The hazel-eyed boy grinned,"Thanks, I really appreciate it!"

"Which also means that you'll be going on vacation with us tomorrow, my father finished this unsolved crossword and won 300,000 yen so he bought everyone tickets to Koumijima Island in the Pacific Ocean." Her cheerful attitude was contagious and Mikael found himself forgetting all his worries about what his friends were up to and how he was supposed to get home, and instead all he could think about was the vacation he'd be taking with none other than the stars of Detective Conan. He grinned to himself, maybe he'd even get to help Conan solve a murder since God knows that wherever that kid went death was sure to follow.

"What time is it, do you know?" He asked timidly, he admitted to being shy around those that he didn't know well.

The brunette's sapphire eyes shifted to his watch before replying,"It's a quarter to 9, I suggest you finish eating and then maybe get some more rest 'cause we've got to be up early to catch the boat tomorrow."

"Right, gotcha." Mikael nodded, finishing his soup and taking a few sips of his water before letting Ran take up the empty bowl.

"G'night Mikael, I'll wake you in the morning, alright?" Ran smiled sweetly before leaving the two boys alone to go and finish her chores.

Conan lingered in the room for a few minutes, staring suspiciously at Mikael before sighing,"'Night Mikael."

"G'night Conan."

He watched as the teen-turned-boy left the room and frowned, Mikael wasn't stupid and could certainly tell that the detective, for whatever reason, didn't seem to trust him or believe that his intentions were, infact, pure. The afro'd boy was then brought to another realization...how was he supposed to go on a trip without any clothing? Well, he had what he was currently wearing, but that was it. His eyes darted around the room until they landed on a small opened suitcase with various clothing items that looked to be in his size.

"Wow, they're good." Laying back down on the bed he had been provided, Mikael decided to take up their suggestion and get some rest since according to them they'd have a lot to do the next day.


End file.
